FRISCO, Texas — Forwards Brett Ritchie and Martin Hanzal are both going to miss the next two games due to injury.
Ritchie was getting further medical tests on Friday. Hitchcock wouldn’t give further information on the upper-body injury, instead deciding to defer to general manager Jim Nill on the injury.
“I think this should come from Jim,” Hitchcock said. “I’m not sure of all the terminology, but either or Jim or the doctor will be able to explain once they finish the tests. We don’t anticipate this being long-term at all, but we need to know what we’re dealing with here.”
Hanzal skated for an hour on his own Friday. He will skate by himself again on Saturday, and will hopefully re-join practice on Sunday. Hitchcock said there isn’t enough time for Hanzal to play on Monday against Winnipeg, and is hoping the center will be ready next Friday’s game against the New York Islanders.
With those injuries the Stars will field a similar lineup to Thursday, meaning it should look something like this:
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Antione Roussel — Jason Spezza — Remi Elie
Jason Dickinson — Mattias Janmark — Devin Shore
Gemel Smith — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Marc Methot — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Esa Lindell — Stephen Johns
Kari Lehtonen
The one change is that Kari Lehtonen will start in goal. Lethonen played well in his last start, picking up a 2-1 win last week against the Calgary Flames.
Road Trip Continues
While the Stars are returning home, Hitchcock said the team needs to treat the next two games against the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets like road games.
“You know what, we are on a long road trip until Monday,” Hitchcock said. “We’ve just got to deal with it that way. These happen to be home games, but there’s been no break.”
Hitchcock did say that the team would get a nice break after Monday’s game against Winnipeg.
Video Session
The Stars didn’t skate on Friday and had a lengthy video session instead. Hitchock would have typically give the team the day off with travel and one day between games, but felt it was important to spend time together as a team and share his message heading into Saturday.
“Winning in the National Hockey League goes to the team that initiates,” Hitchcock said. “There are all kinds of issues that go into why are you playing on your heels … so that’s what we talked about, what’s holding us back from playing on our toes?”
Dickinson
Jason Dickinson made his NHL season debut on Thursday against the Jets.
“He was fine, he was like any other young player a little overwhelmed in his how end,” Hitchcock said. “But in the offensive zone he showed great instincts, so he looks like a guy — especially from the red line in — that can help us right now.”
Dickinson played both center and wing on Thursday, and that will likely continue this weekend. Hitchcock did say Dickinson has a higher chance at initial chance on the wing and needs more practices at center with the team.
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